Malta registers third largest retail sale drop in Europe

Retail trade in Malta in December 2014 decreased by -1.4% when compared to December 2013, Eurostat statistics reveal.

This is the third largest registered retail sale drop in the EU for that time period, behind only Finland (-2.6%) and Slovenia (-2.5%). Contrarily, retail trade increased by 3.2% in the EU28 and by 2.8% in the Eurozone.

The highest increases were observed in Luxembourg (+9.2%), Spain (+6.6%) and Bulgaria (+6.4%).

In a statement, the Nationalist Party said that these statistics confirm that retail sales in Malta have continued to shrink.

“This is worrying for the nation’s self-employed and raises concerns about the consumers’ spending power,” PN deputy leader Mario de Marco and commerce spokesperson Robert Arrigo said in a joint statement. “Even more worryingly, if one had to exclude fuel and motor vehicles from the calculations, the drop in retail sales in volume would be even higher, reaching 6.5%. This puts Malta at the wrong end of the European Union league table in as far as retail sales is concerned.”

They criticised the government for refusing to acknowledge the problem and for being “selective in quoting data, in its effort to paint an image that all is well”.

“Quoting a recent NSO publication, the government abstained from providing a detailed explanation that the reported growth in turnover by retail and wholesale sector is subject to artificially inflated prices of fuel, which according to the statistical classification feeds in both the wholesale and retail sector,” De Marco and Arrigo said. “The Opposition reiterates its call for a serious debate on our economy and on public finances.

“It also calls on government to come up with concrete plans and actions to help those sectors of the economy that are seeing their competitive edge being eroded. Government should with immediate effect lower the price of petrol and diesel, which are currently fourth most expensive in Europe, to bring it in line with the European Union average.”